1495 Blended Scotch

Nose: Sharp and rubbery with alcohol clearly detectable. There is a confusion of generic “scotch whisky” aromas including an indeterminate sherried fruitiness, but the rubbery presence that betrays a heavy dose of young sub-par grain whisky is constant. It reminds me of Grant’s Reserve but it's marginally better as there is a very mild fragrant cereal note, like the smell of a muesli bar. Palate: Sweet and hot on the arrival, turning towards a sweet astringency on the tongue. Gritty (yes gritty - not gristy) cereal notes and a vague suggestion of some sort of fruit as it sits in the mouth. The texture is fairly neutral. Again it reminds me of a thin-bodied version of Grants. There are also times when the taste of ethanol is clearly discerned on the palate. Finish: Short. Hard semi-sour cereal notes that trail off into a surprisingly sweet aftertaste. One thing I will admit, it avoids the common bitter metallic finish of many cheap blends. It gains a quarter-star for that. This is a very cheap blended scotch – the cheapest you can buy in Australia at AUS$33 a bottle – and it only requires a cursory nose and taste to realize that it is very grain-heavy. I’d be surprised if there is more than 5% malt content in this blend. What you are experiencing here is pretty much just grain spirit that has matured for the requisite 3 years in old tired casks that were on their final legs, plus a spattering of various young malt whiskies. You'll never see this anywhere except Australia as it is only produced for the domestic market by Pinnacle Drinks, a Sydney-based company that markets a range of bargain priced sourced drinks under house names (eg Nelson County bourbon, Buckeye rum, Houndstooth gin, etc.). Their business strategy is to undercut the bottom-shelf “name” brands by a few dollars and they sell exclusively through supermarkets and supermarket-owned liquor shops. The whisky is distilled, blended and bottled in Scotland but the source is unidentified - it could be a major producer or a third-party blender/broker and it's entirely possible that exactly the same stuff is sold elsewhere under a different name. It's a better whisky than some of the other bottom-shelf blends like Label 5, Castle Rock or Highland Earl, but it isn’t quite as good as the next shelf up where you'll find whiskies like J&B and Vat 69. By the way – dilution does this no favours as it unveils bitter and harsh notes. It's just barely acceptable but personally I’d find a few dollars more and buy something worth drinking. “Inferior” : 65/100 (1.5 stars)